the classical Monastic Practice oF LECTIo DIVINA - Bible Society

THE BIBLE IN TRANSMISSION 13The Classical MonasticPractice of Lectio DivinaThomas KeatingThe classical practice of Lectio Divina – theprayerful reading of the Bible, the bookChristians believe to be divinely inspired – is beingrediscovered and renewed in our time. At thesame time a number of ways of practicing it havesprung up leading to a certain confusion regardingits relationship to the distinct practice of CentringPrayer. A few distinctions may be helpful.First of all, we need to distinguish lectio divina fromBible study, which is very useful at another timeand provides a solid conceptual background for thepractice of lectio divina.Secondly, lectio divina is not the same as reading theScriptures for the purpose of private edification,encouragement, or getting acquainted with themany-sided aspects of revelation, and especiallywith Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God. Lectiodivina is rather a way or formula for furthering theseobjectives.Thirdly, lectio divina is not the same as spiritualreading, which moves beyond the exclusive readingof sacred Scripture to include other spiritual bookssuch as the lives and writings of the saints.Finally, lectio divina is not the same as praying theScriptures in common, a contemporary developmentthat is sometimes identified with lectio divina. Theclassical practice of lectio divina was done in privateand consisted in following the movement of theHoly Spirit in regard to the time one might devoteto each step of the process, as well as passing fromone step to another during the same period of prayer.Following a particular structure, such as is requiredin all forms of common prayer, tends to limitspontaneity to the movement of the Holy Spirit,which is the heart of the practice.Praying the Scriptures in common might well beregarded as a kind of ‘Liturgy of lectio divina’ or evenbetter, as a kind of shared ‘Liturgy of the Word’.With some variations, it usually goes like this: Apassage is read out loud three or four times followedby two or three minutes of silence. After eachreading the participants apply themselves inwardlyto the text in specified ways. After the first reading,they become aware of a word or phrase. After thesecond they reflect about the meaning or significanceof the text. After the third reading, they respond inspontaneous prayer. After the fourth reading, theysimply rest in God’s presence and after a period ofsilence, those who wish are invited to do a brief faithsharing on the text. In some cases, there is a briefsharing after the third or fourth reading and periodof silence. Praying the Scriptures in common duringweekly Centring Prayer meetings or at a separatetime has proved to be a valuable experience and anoccasion of bonding the members together in faithand love.The classical practice of lectio divina can be dividedinto two forms: the monastic and the scholastic.The scholastic form divides the process into stagesor steps in a hierarchical pattern. Following thereading of a passage of Scripture, the first step wasto allow a phrase or word to arise out of the text andto focus on it. This was called lectio. The second wasthe reflective part, pondering upon the words of thesacred text, and was called meditatio (‘meditation’).The spontaneous movement of the will in responseto these reflections was called oratio (‘affectiveprayer’). And as these reflections and acts of willsimplified, one moved from time to time to a state ofresting in the presence of God, and that was calledcontemplatio (‘contemplation’). This way of doinglectio divina developed in the Middle Ages at thebeginning of the scholastic period with its tendencyto compartmentalise the spiritual life and to rely onrational analysis in theology to the virtual exclusionof personal experience.The monastic form of lectio divina is a more ancientmethod and was practiced by the Mothers andFathers of the Desert and later in monasteries,both East and West. It is oriented more towardcontemplative prayer than the scholastic form,especially when the latter developed into whatwe call today discursive meditation, conceived asmoving from one thought to another or as one stagein a series of steps. That method is a good way ofpraying provided you don’t get stuck there and failto move on to contemplative prayer. One of thepurposes of the method of Centring Prayer is tohelp people to detach themselves from the exclusiveuse of discursive meditation, which became thepredominant method of prayer in recent centuries,even in cloisters. Most Christians are trained toreflect and to multiply particular acts of the willin order to go to God and find it hard to imaginepraying without following this procedure. Sincepraying the Scriptures in common involves discursivemeditation, it is normally more appropriate tohave such a ‘Liturgy of the Word’ after a CentringPrayer period rather than before. Above all, the twoFr. Thomas Keating is aninternationally renownedtheologian and anaccomplished author. Hehas travelled the worldto speak with laypeopleand communities aboutcontemplative Christianpractices and thepsychology of the spiritualjourney. He is a foundingmember and the spiritualguide of ContemplativeOutreach. This article fromOctober 2008 is postedon the ContemplativeOutreach website, www.contemplativeoutreach.org and is reproduced herewith their permission.

BIBLE SOCIETY 14‘we break through the veil of ourown ways of thinking. The externalword of God in Scripture awakensus to the interior Word of God inour inmost being’upractices should not be combined because each hasits own integrity and uniqueness.In the monastic way of doing lectio divina we listento how God is addressing us in a particular text ofScripture. From this perspective there are no stages,ladders or steps in lectio divina, but rather there arefour moments along the circumference of a circle. Allthe moments of the circle are joined to each otherin a horizontal and interrelated pattern as well as tothe centre, which is the Spirit of God speaking to usthrough the text and in our hearts. To pay attentionto any one of the four ‘moments’ is to be in directrelationship to all the others. In this perspective, onemay begin one’s prayer at any ‘moment’ along thecircle, as well as moving easily from one ‘moment’ toanother, according to the inspiration of the Spirit.Paul writes, ‘Don’t you know that you yourselves areGod’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?’(1 Cor 3.16). Suppose you were struck by thatquestion as you are reading a section of yourScripture reading for the day, say a dozen or soverses, and you felt nudged to let your attentionlinger over those words to savour them. The earlymonks read Scripture aloud so they were actuallylistening to it. They would then choose a phrase, ora sentence at the most, that impressed them. Theywould sit with that sentence or phrase withoutthinking of stages or following some predeterminedschema, but just listening, repeating slowly thesame short text over and over again. This receptivedisposition enabled the Holy Spirit to expand theircapacity to listen. As they listened, they mightperceive a new depth to the text or an expandingmeaning. A particular insight might also besingularly appropriate for them in their particularlife situation or for the events of the coming day.According to Scripture, the Spirit speaks to us everyday: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not hardenyour hearts’ (Ps 95.7–8). The monks listened not somuch to understand the text, not to conceptualise oranalyze it, but just to hear it. And to hear it withoutany preconceived purpose of what they were going todo with it.This is already a deep form of receptivity. Thosewho practice lectio divina in this way are alreadymoving toward the fourth ‘moment’ of this dynamicprocess leading to resting in God. In response toa new insight, they might be inclined to respondin thanksgiving or with interior movements oflove, praise or gratitude. As this listening attitudestabilises, they might experience moments ofcontemplative prayer in the strict sense, in whichthey are just present to God, or quietly engulfedin the divine presence. In this situation, one’sattentiveness to God expands into the sheerawareness of the divine presence. For the moment,we break through the veil of our own ways ofthinking. The external word of God in Scriptureawakens us to the interior Word of God in ourinmost being. When that awareness dissipates, wemay go back and read more of the text, provided, ofcourse, we have the time.This monastic way of doing lectio divina alwaysbegins with prayer to the Holy Spirit. The fourmoments along the circumference of the circle arereading in the presence of God, reflecting in thesense of ruminating (not in the sense of discursivemeditation), responding with spontaneous prayer,and resting in God beyond thoughts and particularacts of the will.By ‘ruminating’ I mean sitting with a sentence,phrase or even one word that emerges from the text,allowing the Spirit to expand our listening capacityand to open us to its deeper meaning; in otherwords, to penetrate the spiritual sense of a Scripturepassage. This leads to the faith experience of theliving Christ and increases the practical love forothers that flows from that relationship.As we repeat the phrase or sentence slowly, overand over, a deeper insight may arise. For example,take the words of Jesus, ‘I will not call you servantsbut friends’ (Jn 15.15). All of a sudden, it mightdawn on us what it means to be a friend of Christ.Our awareness expands without our having doneanything but allow the Spirit to act. It is a heart-toheartexchange with Christ. We think the text butwe do not think about the text. If we are thinkingin the sense of reflecting, we are dominating theconversation. That can be done fruitfully some othertime. Here it is a question of receiving and resting inChrist’s presence as the source of the word or phrase.Lectio divina is a special kind of process, and tobenefit fully from its fruits, its integrity has to berespected. The ripe fruit of the regular practice oflectio divina is assimilating the word of God andbeing assimilated by it. It is a movement fromconversation to communion. It also enables us toexpress our deep spiritual experience of union withGod in words or symbols that are appropriate. There

THE BIBLE IN TRANSMISSIONis thus a movement not only into silence, but fromsilence to expression.In the Trinity, the Eternal Word is always emergingfrom the infinite silence of the Father and alwaysreturning. The persons in the Trinity live in eachother rather than in themselves. The Father knowshimself only in the Son, the Son only in the Fatherand the Spirit expresses their unity, bringingtogether into One relationships that are infinitelydistinct. The Trinity is the basis for the oneness anddiversity that we see expressed throughout creation.In this way of doing lectio divina, one is recognizingthe presence of the Word of God in all creation andin every occurrence, experiencing what the authorof John’s Gospel wrote in the prologue, ‘WithoutHim was made nothing that has been made.’ Incontemplative prayer, we are in touch with thesource of all creation; hence, we transcend ourselvesand our limited worldviews. As a result, we feel atone with other people and enjoy a sense of belongingto the universe. The fullness of the Godhead dwellsbodily in Jesus, according to Paul. The Divinitybegins to dwell in us bodily in proportion to ourcapacity to receive it as we grow in union with theEternal Word. This process needs to be nourishedboth by the interior silence of contemplative prayerand cultivated by lectio divina (in the sense oflistening). The awareness of the divine presence willalso begin to overflow into ordinary activity.The scholastic method is a good way to learn lectiodivina whether privately or in a group. The monasticmethod is oriented more toward contemplativeprayer and from the start resting in God byestablishing us in a listening attitude. The dynamicinteraction between the four ‘moments’ of lectioreading,reflecting in the sense of ruminating on aparticular word or phrase, responding in prayer, andresting in God puts us more and more at the disposalof the Holy Spirit. n